Journal Entry: Mabel Pines
by ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: Dipper never took Ford's apprenticeship, but since arriving back at Gravity Falls he's been spending an awful lot of time down in the lab with him. The situation is not helped by an accident involving Mabel getting infected with vampirism; as she finds herself now one of the many 'dangerous' monsters cataloged on the Journal's pages, the twin's bond is tested.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Mabel!" Mabel looked up to see Wendy walk through the door. "Did Soos put you at the cash register?"

"No," The girl held up a couple green notes. "I needed some of these people's faces to cut out and put on this new attractions I'm making. Which one should I use, Benjamin Franklin or Harriet Tubman?"

"Whoa, let's not cut up dollar bills. I have some magazines you can borrow, those are way better." Wendy looked around. "Where's Dipper?"

Mabel put back the bills and walked out from behind the cash register. "Down in Grunkle Ford's lab, with Grunkle Ford."

"Oh, cool!"

"Yeah." The girl crossed her arms. "Last night, too. And yesterday. And the day before."

Wendy looked down at Mabel, frowning concernedly. "Hey, man, are you alright?"

Mabel looked up. "Me? Pshhh, I'm fine. I'm sure sooner or later me and Dipper will go on some crazy adventure in the woods, Mystery Twins style!"

"Haha, that's the Mabel I know!" Wendy walked behind the register. "But you know, me and my friends were thinking about cutting work and hanging out tomorrow; you and Dipper should totally come!"

"Really?" Mabel's eyes brightened. "That would be so cool!"

"Hey, we'd love to have you and Dipper come! Oh, and here's something for you to cut up." She threw Mabel one of her magazines. Then she looked over to the back of the room, frowning. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"There, coming from the vending machine." Before either of them could say anything the vending machine swung open, revealing Dipper.

"Mabel?"

"Dipper!" Mabel dropped the magazines and tackled her brother with a hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Haha, it's great to see you too, Mabel!" Dipper patted his sister's back. "Hey, I wanted to show you something."

"Down in the lab?"

Dipper nodded. "You know those three things you wanted me to always show you if we ever started studying one of them?"

Mabel's eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh, Dipper! You mean stickers, vampires and glitter?"

"Yep!" The boy crossed his arms, grinning from ear to ear in excitement. "You know which one it is."

"That's so amazing! Eeeee!" Mabel jumped up and down. "I can't believe you guys are finally studying stickers!"

"Yeah- wait, what? No, I didn't mean stickers."

"Glitter?"

"No, Mabel, vampires!"

"Ohhhhhh." Mabel blinked, then resumed her excited attitude. "Vampires! That's so cool, Dipper!"

"Hey," Wendy called from the counter. "Have fun, you two!"

"Wendy! I'm so sorry, I didn't notice you!" Dipper slapped his head. "Oh, if I knew you were here we would have brought a spare gas mask-"

Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Gas mask?"

"Nah, it's all cool. Three's a crowd." Wendy winked at Mabel. "Show me later, okay?"

"Oh, okay, Wendy!" Dipper backed up towards the lab. "Sorry again!"

Mabel laughed as her brother opened the secret vending machine door and tugged her along. "Alright! I can't wait to see some vampires!"

"It's gonna be great, Mabel!" Dipper then stopped in front of the elevator and turned to face her head on. "Just before we go down, you've got to promise you won't, you know, break anything, okay?"

"Me? Break something? Please," Mabel waved her hand, which struck a lightbulb and smashed it. "That proves nothing."

Dipper sighed. "Okay, well… as long as you don't have your grappling hook?"

"I'm not gonna shoot a vampire with it! Vampires are cool!" She blinked. "Unless they attack you. Wait, if it attacks me won't I need my grappling hook?"

"Please, Mabel, just give me the grappling hook." The boy held out a hand. "You'll understand when we get there."

With a sigh she took out her hook and handed it to Dipper, who put it in his vest. "Fine. Why all this safety stuff anyway, bro bro?"

He tapped a code into the elevator, a big grin on his face. "You'll see."

"Aww, come on!" Mabel stepped into the elevator. "You're seriously not gonna tell me anything?"

"It's a surprise!"

"Not even what he looks like?" She poked her brother. "Tell me."

"You'll see in five seconds, I promise!"

"Tell me!" Poke. "Tell me!" Poke. "Tell me!"

"Mabel, it's right through here!" The elevators stopped at floor 2, and Mabel stepped out into what could best be described as some sort of hospital area. Most of the room was cut off behind a bright white sheet, leaving them standing in a short stub next to some cages.

"Ooh." Mabel looked over to the cages, tall and dark. "So which one of these has the vampire in it."

"Mabel, that's not-"

"Is it in this cage?" Mabel stuck her head through one of them. "Hello, Mr Vampire! Huh, I guess not… oh, and I'm stuck."

"No, you're not." Dipper crossed his arms. "Just turn your head back the way it was when you went in."

"I didn't turn my head. Did you guys invent shrinking bars?"

"Yes, you did."

"You did invent shrinking bars?"

"No, I said you definitely turned your head."

"Oh, whatever, I'll just try moving back." She took a step back, and the cage started to tilt. "No, no no! Bad idea! Bad idea!" The cage fell on her with a crash.

"Mabel!"

"I'm okay! Just, really stuck." She giggled. "Well, there's definitely no vampires in here!"

Ford looked down at Dipper, his voice low. "Are you sure this is a good idea? It's a very delicate experiment."

"Mabel's fine." He started lifting the cage. "Besides, she'd kill me if we had vampire stuff down here and I didn't show her, right?"

"Darn right!" Mabel put her hands on the bars. "Now how's about you let me out of here?"

"Don't worry, I got you." Dipper took his sister's hand. "Just turn your head this time!"

"Ahem," Ford cleared his throat. "With that done, I do have one thing I need to give you two in the event of an accident."

Mabel gasped. "Garlic?"

"No, gas masks." Ford handed out two masks. "They're tested, so as long as you don't mess with the filter it should protect you against the biohazard."

"Biohazard?" Mabel held out the gas mask as Dipper and Ford ran over to the white sheet. "Wait a minute, weird hospital room? Gas mask? There's no vampire here!"

The two pulled down the sheet, to reveal what appeared to be a small glass bottle containing… nothing. "Behold," Ford spread his arms. "The first ever captured sample of _Sanguinare Vampiris_!"

"Isn't it cool, Mabel?"

"It's… a bottle." Mabel took a few steps closer to her brother, unable to stop the disappointment from leaking into her tone. "Wow."

Ford grinned, circling around the sample. "It might not seem like much, but that's because the spores are invisible to the naked eye. Also completely odorless and tasteless." His smile stretched. "You don't want to know how long I've been trying to get my hands on a sample. But wow, was it worth it! I've already performed preliminary tests on the spores – absolutely fascinating! They appear to feed off the blood cells until-"

"So vampires are actually, like, a disease?" Mabel thought about all the vampire romance novels she'd read and made a face.

"The correct term is vampirism, Mabel." Ford wagged a finger. "Anyway, the spores are fascinating, but what I'm hoping is that they lead me to an even bigger prize: the capture of a live vampire!"

Mable fiddled with a mesh part on the front of her gas mask. "Couldn't you just infect somebody with it?"

"What? No!" Stanford's eyes widened, and he picked up the sample. "Vampirism is a serious, incurable condition! If this was ever inhaled, it would mean a death sentence! After that the victims quickly deteriorate into singleminded killers with an unquenchable thirst for human blood."

"So… like zombies?"

"Similar, but much more dangerous. Much more... clever." Ford replaced it."It was a small miracle one of them almost got caught in a trap to give us this sample. It must have been getting desperate for blood."

This was _really_ ruining all her hot vampire romance novels.

"That's why we have it here." Dipper patted the table, which wobbled. "On this small, shaky table. In a glass jar." He laughed nervously. "Hahaha… why did we do that again?"

Ford shrugged. "You said you wanted it to be dramatic; I trusted your judgment."

"Yeah, well…" Dipper rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry this was a bust for you, Mabel. You can go upstairs; I'll tell you if we ever catch a real vampire."

"No! No, it's okay," Mabel skipped over to the table. "I don't have to go yet, bro bro. I could… help you find something more sturdy!"

Dipper's eyes widened as she picked up the table, with the sample on top of it. "No, no, wait, Mabel, no!"

"Oh." Mabel put a hand on the glass jar. "Whoops, silly me! I got it."

"Mabel, don't touch that!" Ford stepped forwards. "We can handle this, just go upstairs!"

"But-"

"Mabel, _put it down_!" Her brother ordered, and she quickly dropped the table. The sample bounced off and smashed on the floor.

Mabel backed away. "Oh my god, sorry, sorry, sorry!" She then felt her brother run up to her and shove her out of the way.

"Mabel, put on the mask! Get to the elevator!"

Mabel diligently put on the gas mask, shivering as what felt like a cold wind brushed past her. Ford rushed up to the two of them and shoved them in the elevator, quickly closing it behind them.

Mabel moved to take off her mask, but she was quickly stopped by Ford. He pressed a button and all of the air was sucked out of the space, then quickly replaced.

Then he took off his mask. Dipper and Mabel followed suit.

"Well, haha," Mabel looked at the two, but they had crossed their arms and turned away from her. "Thanks, um, for the save! What an adventure, right, guys?"

"What an adventure!" Ford growled as the doors opened. "That sample took years of dangerous investigation to find, and you come in and knock it over!" He snatched the mask out of Mabel's hands. "Come, Dipper. If we're quick, we may still be able to recover some of the spores."

"I'm really sorry!" Mabel turned and looked at her brother. Dipper gave a sort of half-glare before looking away. "When can I see you again? Tonight?"

The doors started to close. "Tomorrow morning? I forgot to tell you, there's a thing going on and-"

With a hiss of air, the elevator closed. Mabel sighed and touched the metal. "Great job, Mabel Pines. You really blew it this time." She trudged back up the stairs. "Now Dipper's mad at me, and there's no chance he's gonna… gonna-"

Mabel suddenly descended into a brief coughing fit, before quickly recovering. "Hehe, my throat tickles!" She then straightened up. "You know what, I don't need to be a negative Nancy about this! Dipper loves me, he just needs to cool off. I'll just wait until Dipper comes up for food, and then I'll give him a huge apology! Ooh, with a card!" She skipped up the stairs. "I'm gonna work on that right now, and put on all the glitter!"

* * *

 **Edited 6/8/17**


	2. Chapter 2

_Content note - some disturbing description of death_

* * *

In the time it took for Mabel to go upstairs, she had already switched from a card to full on sweater mode.

"I should make a sorry sweater to Dipper!" She burst into her room, coughing into her sleeve. It was an annoying tickle in her throat but she paid little attention to it. "And one for me too, so we'll be sweater twins!"

After getting a ball of blue yarn she sat up by the window and knitted as the sun began to go down. For a few minutes it was peaceful, the atmosphere broken only by occasional bouts of coughing.

Then there was a knock at the door. Mabel looked over to see her Grunkle Stan enter.

"Hey, kid," Stan waved. "I'm gonna be ordering some pizza for dinner, is that okay for you?"

"Pizza? That sounds delicious, Grunkle Stan!" She felt her stomach. "I don't feel that hungry, though."

"Yeah, heh," The man leaned on the door. "Uh, you okay after what happened down in the lab? Ford told me something about vampires, but he was too angry for me to get much out of him."

Mabel looked down. "Oh, I broke something in the lab. Dipper's really mad at me too… I wonder when he's gonna talk to me again."

With a concerned frown, Stan left the door to sit by his niece. She started coughing, then cleared her throat and smiled up at him. "I've got a cough. They're like hiccups, but so much more annoying!"

"You coming down with something?" The old man nudged her playfully. "Don't get me sick; it's not as fun when you're old!"

Mabel started to giggle, which quickly turned into another coughing fit. "Tha-anks Grunkle Sta-an!"

"Hey, anything to cheer you up!" Stan ruffled his niece's hair. "Don't worry too much about Dipper, okay? You two have a great relationship; there's no way breaking some nerdy science thing would…" He trailed off. "I mean, Dipper'll come around when he's ready. Until then you belong up here with your Grunkle Stan! Who wants to do boring research anyway?"

"Yeah, you're right!" Mabel then frowned at the old man. "Wait, weren't you on that sailing research trip with Grunkle Ford last year?"

Grunkle Stan waved it away. "Oh, it was all Ford doing the research. I was in it for the treasure, the beaches… and the babes!"

"You met women?" Mabel's eyes widened. "What were their names?"

"Uhh…" The old man scratched his head, suddenly looking rather uncomfortable.

"I bet they weren't as cool as Wendy! Oh, she invited me to hang out tomorrow, we-"

"Welp, I'm done with this conversation." Stan abruptly stood up and headed towards the door. "I'll call you for dinner, pumpkin!"

"Okay!" Mabel waved, then returned to stitching. The sun was just about set, and as she continued she began to feel a fuzzy fatigue set in. She coughed again, her eyes drooping as she looked at her knitting so far.

Somewhere in her drowsy mind, she registered a dropped stitch quite far down in the pattern. Mabel groaned in frustration and sat back against the window, shivering.

Maybe she should just lie in her bed for a little bit… yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Mabel knocked her knitting to the floor as she stumbled off the window seat and shuffled to her bed. She buried herself deep in the covers and within seconds she was comatose, far away in a land of peaceful dreams.

As Mabel slept, her heart rate slowed. She grew clammy and cold; a scowl formed on her face as she tightly gripped the bedsheets with pale hands. Her shallow breaths rattled in her chest as her lungs filled with fluid, breaths that followed farther and farther apart from the last.

Then they stopped altogether. Mabel relaxed, her face returning to a soft smile and her grip on the sheets relinquishing. By all medical definitions, she was dead.

But that wasn't true. She was still dreaming.


	3. Chapter 3

Mabel woke up to the pleasant, loud sound of birds chirping. She immediately sat up and stretched, feeling unusually energetic.

"Wow," Mabel said as she jumped out of bed. "This girl is ready to take on the day!" She moved to close the window, but saw it was already tightly shut.

She pressed her face right up to the glass, looking at the cloudy sky. "Haha, you birds are loud today!"

After that Mabel dressed, putting on a green sweater with a pink bunny. She picked up the knitting she dropped on the floor last night and, after a second of consideration, placed it on her bed. She could finish that later; right now she was bursting with energy, ready to jump, sing, dance!

That was why it was no surprise Stan and Soos were waiting for her when she grooved into the living room.

"Go for it, hambone!" Soos snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "You're like, a dance machine!"

Mabel jumped onto the chair, landing on its arm. "I know! I don't know why, but I feel fabulous!"

Stan put his hands on his hips. "Wow, somebody woke up on the right side of the bed. How's that cough, kiddo?"

"Gone!"

"Really?" Stan blinked. "You still look a little pale; how's about we make some breakfast?"

Mabel shook her head. "I dunno… I'm not too hungry. Where's Dipper?"

"Still down in the lab, dude." Soos chuckled. "I went down to ask if he was going to work today and he nearly bit my head off… does that count as a maybe?"

The girl shrugged.

"No, Soos." Stan pinched his nose. "And kid, What are you talking about? I didn't wake you up for dinner, you gotta starving by now!"

Mabel leapt off the chair, smiling innocently. "Nope!"

"Well, uh, that's weird." Stan waved his hand. "Whatever, do what you want. You've got an hour before work starts, and… you can stop dancing now."

"You can stop standing still!" Mabel retorted, raising the roof.

"Trust me, you don't want to see this old man dance." Stan went over to sit on his chair. "You up for some Ducktective? They finally released season 3!"

"I'd love to, Grunkle Stan, but I can't sit down! I feel like I'm on a sugar rush without any sugar!" Mabel grabbed Soos by the front of his shirt. "I need to blow off steam!"

"You could go for a walk," Soos suggested. "Though it's kinda cloudy outside, I'm not sure-"

"That's a great idea! Bye!" Before the man could finish his sentence she was gone, taking with her a fistful of fabric. Soos looked down, adjusted his new collar and walked off.

Meanwhile Mabel was already dashing through the parking lot, speeding right past Wendy into the forest. From there she kept running, the world a bright, colourful blur around her. She wasn't thinking, she was _experiencing_.

Eventually she slowed, sitting down underneath a shady tree as the clouds parted and sunlight streamed down all around her. She sighed happily, sinking down into the soft grass. 'Wow… that was great!"

That didn't quite describe the experience, so she pushed for something more. 'That was amazing! Fabulous! That was… that was… not normal."

Upon uttering those words, Mabel felt her stomach drop. She sat up straight, looking back her trail with a wide-eyed expression. 'That was really not normal.' The girl laughed nervously. "Maybe I accidentally put on super speedy shoes… nope. They're, haha, normal shoes."

Whatever had happened, she wasn't figuring it out in the middle of nowhere. Mabel shakily stood up and began walking out of the tree's shade. The sun's rays felt uncomfortably hot on the back of her neck, like it had gotten ten times closer since she had last stood in it.

And as she stood there it only grew more and more painful. And that burning smell- Mabel yelped and dove under a tree, now thoroughly freaked out. What had happened to her?

"This is, this is okay!" Mabel said out loud. "I just forgot sunscreen! All I need to do is go back home and-

 _Whoosh._ The faintest of rustling drew her eyes to a shadow, dashing from tree to tree, moving too fast for her to follow. She took a step back- and it had already passed her, rushing back into the depths of the forest.

At Mabel's feet, it had left a black umbrella. She picked it up, opened it, and stepped into the sunlight. No burning. Perfect.

Mabel turned and waved after the donor. "Thank you, mysterious shadow!"

She then turned and walked back the way she had come, going at a much slower, cautious pace than she would even on a normal day, just in case. The path back was a bit of a trek, but eventually Mabel reached the Mystery Shack, where she saw Wendy with her boots up on the cash register.

"Oh, hey man!" The redhead waved upon seeing her. "Nice umbrella."

"Thanks!" Mabel walked over to the snack machine, but then she stopped.

"You going to talk to Dipper?"

"Wait for it..." Mabel put a coin in the machine and pressed a button. A bottle of water dropped down. She picked it up and unscrewed the cap. "Now I am!"

"Nice. What'd he say about hanging out later today?"

Mabel slapped her face. "Oh my gosh, I forgot to ask!"

"Hey, hey, it's not too late. If you're going down right now-" She then blinked. "Oh, hey Dipper."

"Dipper?" Mabel didn't get a chance to turn before her brother grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her into the vending machine. "Whoa, haha! Nice to see you; I was just about to-!"

"Nice to... yeah." Dipper had deep, dark circles around his glazed eyes. He grabbed Mabel's hand and held it for a second, frowning deeply.

"What are you doing, bro bro?"

"You're really cold." He released her hand and stepped back, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Yeah, I know." Mabel sighed. "I had a weird day, first there was-"

"Come on." Dipper started walking towards the elevator. Mabel frowned at his tone; there was something off about this situation, she knew it.

Dipper, meanwhile, had noticed she wasn't following. "Mabel?"

Mabel shook herself, pushing away the feeling of wrongness as some silly suspicion. She took a deep breath and followed him into the cramped elevator.

* * *

 **Edited 6/8/17**


	4. Chapter 4

The doors closed. The elevator began to descend. Only Mabel's impatiently tapping foot filled the void of silence between them.

"So..." Mabel grinned at her brother. "What're we doing in the lab? Something on vampires?"

Dipper shot her a weird look; it wasn't quite angry, or worried. Somewhere in the middle.

"Well? You, haha, just gonna stand there?"

"I'll tell you in a second." The doors opened. "Over here, Mabel. Mabel?"

Garlic. Mabel never much cared for the smell, but now it was overpowering, it was mind shattering in its intensity, it was... _Oh, my god_. One sniff sent waves of pain shooting through her skull, another had her stomach churning enough to turn milk into butter. Mabel blinked hard, shook her head, opened her mouth to answer, but she just couldn't get it... that smell... out of her head.

Get it... Get it out... "Get it out!"

She couldn't get out.

Mabel could hear Dipper speaking, shouting, some words, from somewhere. She couldn't think, couldn't see, she just had to _get out_!

Panic. Running. Pain.

Darkness.

* * *

Mabel opened her eyes, and then immediately squeezed them shut. Her forehead pounded. Her eyes watered. Her body ached.

To put it simply, everything hurt.

"Ugh... What..." She stopped and swallowed a couple of times to get rid of a horrible dryness in her throat; it didn't go away. "What happened?"

After a moment, Mabel summoned up enough energy to force her eyes open. The first thing she saw was a pile of blankets, warm and fuzzy, drawn right up to her chin. Mabel smiled, snuggled a little tighter, and looked to the side.

Thick steel bars greeted her gaze.

"Wait, what?" Mabel sat up - her head spun, she took a moment to let it settle - and took a closer look. Yes, those were steel bars. She was in a cage. A cage with a nice pillow and fluffy blankets, yes, but still a cage. A cage in the underground lab.

"Uhh... Dipper?"Mabel gently rattled the bars. "Great Uncle Ford? Help?"

Nothing happened. Mabel frowned, gave the bars one last shake, and sat back, rubbing her head.

"Gotta... gotta get out... somehow..." She sluggishly sifted through the blankets. "Come on Mabel, do that thing Dipper does with his head! Think!"

Something rustled in between the sheets. "Aha! Paper! I can use this for a signal fire! Oh, wait, words." She squinted at the page; her headache was causing all the letters to swim. After a considerable effort, the message revealed itself.

 _Mabel,_

 _If you can read this, stay put. You are safe._

 _The gas mask you used for the vampire sample had a hole in it. Ford is working on a cure._

 _Everything will be alright. I love you._

 _Dipper_

With a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach, Mabel saw all the pieces fit together in her mind's eye. The speed, the sun, the garlic.

That dry, thirsty feeling in her throat.

"Oh no..." Mabel read the letter again; there it was, in unusually neat handwriting for her brother. "I mean, this is kind of cool, but I don't wanna be a vampire! I like the sun! What am I gonna do, Dipper?"

No one answered. Why wasn't anyone here? She wanted - no, needed - somebody to talk to. Where was Grunkle Stan? Were they all upstairs, while she was in this stupid cage?

She glared at the bars. There was something familiar about them... Yes, she recognised them! these were the ones she'd gotten stuck in yesterday!

"The perfect escape! Mabel, you are a genius." She faced sideways and carefully tiptoed through. "Turn the head... don't let it fall... don't let it fall... and yes! Freedom! Now to find Dipper; I'm sure he'll be so happy to see me!"

After a quick trip up the elevator, Mabel discovered the reason that nobody had been down there: it was the middle of the night. A clock by the cash register informed her it was past three in the morning.

Well, at least she could go upstairs and sleep in an actual bed. Mabel poured herself a glass of water and started up the steps.

She was light on her feet; none of them creaked.

The attic was dark, but Mabel could see the door just fine. Behind it she could hear breathing, soft, slow, sleeping.

She turned the knob. She pushed it open. She crept inside.

There. Sprawled out, face pushed into a pillow, neck exposed... the perfect moment.

 _Wait_.

The perfect moment for what?

Mabel frowned; why was she thinking like that? When she looked at him... No, no, this was wrong, this was bad! Stop thinking that! No!

The cup slipped from her hands; it hit the ground and shattered with a harsh, high noise. Glass shards scattered across the wood and water seeped in between the floorboards. Mabel yelped, startled out of her frozen trance.

"Mabel?"

Only to be stunned once more.

Her throat burned, and she couldn't look him in the eye. Instead she focused on the bandage wrapped around his arm, stained with... with...

"I have to get out of here," Mabel breathed, backing away. Dipper jumped out of bed, so she turned and ran.

"Mabel, wait!"

Down the creaking stairs. Through the hallway. Out of the gift shop.

Into the forest.

Away from her family.


End file.
